The First Drop
by pretzel-logic
Summary: Draco's more than a little confused. When he went to sleep he was twenty-one. When he wakes up he is eleven. Draco can change history if he chooses. So will he? - no clue for what genre this is, suggestions? -


Summary: Draco's more than a little confused. When he went to sleep he was twenty-one. When he wakes up he is eleven. Draco can change history if he chooses. So will he?

Author's note: This all started with me wondering what would happen if Draco 'went back' in time. It then spiraled out of control as I realized how important Draco is to the overall plot of Harry Potter. Before HBP, I mean.

Disclaimer: So don't own but I thank JKR for permitting people to write fanfics.

Prologue

_Dear Father,_

Draco stared at the two words on an otherwise blank parchment as he tried to find a place to start. Fear rested heavily in his stomach and stole what color graced his skin. Anxiety made his hands sweat and shake. Stress already caused him to bite his lip raw and now his tasted a bit of his blood every time he subconsciously continued the painful habit. The Sorting Ceremony might have only been a scarce few hours ago but, Draco did not doubt his father already knew. He needed to inform Lucius Malfoy of events or he would receive a howler tomorrow. Draco was certain of that much.

_By now I am sure you know all you need to of tonight's events. _

Draco stared at the sentence he wrote, unsure of how to continue. To think, people always said starting letters was hard. His trouble was compounded by the secrets he kept and the distance Draco remembered having with his father. There was so much he should be telling Lucius Malfoy and yet all he was trying to write about was the Sorting Hat Ceremony. It was the first event to prove that he was not just reliving his memories. Not that Draco was reliving his memories as if he was witnessing them through a pensive. Draco originally believed he suffered some unusual side effect of a potion gone wrong to cause lucid memories. Now he was forced to believe he was somehow transported ten years back to his eleven year old self. The damnable hat had said as much.

_I was not sorted into Slytherin as all of us expected._

It could have been worse. He could have been put in _that_ house. Things were still going to trouble his mother and father however. Almost every family member of the Blacks or Malfoys placed in a House other than Slytherin were burned off the family tree and declared blood traitors. Draco feared a similar future.

_Instead the Sorting Hat thought it best to place me in Ravenclaw. _

The odd thing about the whole situation was the Sorting Hat apologized to him. Apparently, Dark Lords can really mess with the hat's ability to guess which House would suit students. It put Harry Potter almost immediately in Griffyndor when the last time around the school waited an unusually long time for its decision. A few other students called after him were put in different houses than he recalled based off memory.

_As I am sure mother will tell you, the Sorting Hat does not 'resort' students. All housing decisions it makes are final. _

Draco could recall with crystal clarity the reactions people had at his House placement. The professors surprised, Slytherin table shocked, his friends notable showing their surprise, Ravenclaw table's awkward cheer, and some jeering, probably from the Weasleys. The reaction was almost as striking as Potter's the first time around. Draco chuckled darkly. Hogwarts's inhabitants were reasonably more off-kilter after his Sorting. Well, those not muggleborn and ignorant anyways.

_I will do my best as a Malfoy and your heir to uphold the family honor even in the Ravenclaw house. Please assure mother I am fine and will owl you again soon._

_Your loving son,_

_Draco Lucius Malfoy_

Tying his letter to a school owl, Draco watched the bird fly away with a mixture of dread and relief. His obligations were fulfilled but, that would do little to calm his father. If his father needed to be calm. It unnerved Draco how much his father's opinion of him still mattered after years remembering being a disappointment and seeing firsthand how flawed his own father was. Worse was the knowledge that Draco could not become a Death Eater. He knew the ugly truth of what being a follower of Voldemort meant and he felt ill at the memories.

If there was one thing he was going to do with his unexpected circumstances, he was going to protect his family. They were not going to suffer as they had suffered in the past. He swore it so on his magic.


End file.
